


Fly Like an Egyptian

by Mitch



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:40:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7931509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mitch/pseuds/Mitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Zoroastrian religion has never been quite up to Daniel's standards of worthy of study. That's about to change! As usual, our archaeologist gets himself into a situation with dire consequences. The dire aspect is the trauma our dear colonel has to go through as a result of Daniel's tendency to immerse himself in any culture the team comes even close to tripping over. The consequences on other missions have been dangerous and deadly. This time the consequences have feathers. And sex. Sex and feathers. Yep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fly Like an Egyptian

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Suzan, super creative editor! You always ask me for the texture, the sound, the feel and I appreciate that so much. This is the longest piece of fanfic I have written in quite a while. Had to rework my website, toying with an original fantasy scif giant work, and am also doing non-fic stuff, so this piece was very important to me to get finished and out in the world.

Fly Like An Egyptian

By Mitch 

With each step, pain bounced in red-hot explosions from side to side along the length of Daniel's spine. He held Jack's supporting left hand, the grim-faced Colonel's right arm encircled his hips, avoiding any contact with his back. He concentrated on moving forward, forward to the gate. "Hurry, Sam," Daniel managed a hoarse whisper.

She carried three packs and dashed by the two to the DHD. Hurry, hurry, he silently urged her. With effort, Daniel managed to look up to watch for the gate chevrons lighting up. Teal'c's shouts reached through the pain fogging his mind. The Jaffa was warning their pursuers to stay back. Hurry. Hurry, he wordlessly urged Jack. Teal'c was in hand-to-hand combat with a hoard of the temple priests only yards behind them. He continued shouting at the priests to stay back even as he struck them. His staff weapon had not been fired. Daniel had not heard a blast, just angry shouts and body blows all during the flight toward the gate.

They'd meant it as an honor, the Arachosian people. Daniel kept trying to explain that to Jack all through the desperate retreat from their golden temple to the gate. They'd meant to give Daniel an honor.

"Sir…"

Daniel groaned, blocking out the rest of her words. The gate had spun, hadn't it? He thought he'd heard the movement but his eyes refused to focus. The sound had been nothing but desperately hopeful imagination. Her tone told him the truth he didn't want to believe.

Jack lowered him to sit on the gate steps. The inactive gate. Sam was shouting. Jack's touch slipped from him as the Colonel turned to face the Arachosians who had gotten past Teal'c.

The gate was dead. They were going nowhere. Daniel fainted.

He woke with the side of his face pressed to a soft cushion. Jack's angry voice was near. Sam was answering Jack's questions but unfortunately Daniel could hear frustration in her tone. She didn't have the answers Jack wanted, or the answers Daniel so desperately needed.

"Gate…" he asked as loudly as he could. His efforts brought three forms into view. "Jack?"

"Daniel."

He could feel Jack's palm resting on the top of his head and could tell from the narrow view he had that his team-mates were kneeling around him. He was on a very soft pallet and they were back inside the golden temple's vast hall. This was where they'd been, trying to establish a dialog with the obvious leaders of the planet when Daniel had done something, said something…What had he done that had resulted that blinding flash of light? All he could recall was light, a soul-searing pain and then Jack desperately retreating toward the gate.

But before the light, in the first few minutes of having been met by a bevy of clerics, SG-1 had been excitedly entreated to enter into this temple. Golden in name and in color, the exterior and interior walls of the seven-sided domed structure were covered in bits of refined gold metal that had appeared, on his earlier very brief examination, to have been hammered onto the base material. Polished to a fantastic sheen, the beaten surfaces inside reflected thousands of points of light bounced from mirrors directing sunlight inward through arched openings on all seven sides.

On his first entry into the structure, Daniel's attention had been captured by the stunning setting, all pathways inward leading to the central statue. He recognized the religion instantly.

"Arachosians were put here by a Goa'ulded Unas…"

"Daniel, how do you feel? Danny?"

"It was clearly readable, the carved…words." He hurt! "I had to read them, Jack. And a shol'va survived the Unas. Changed their culture."

"How do you feel?" Jack repeated. He moved his hand down to Daniel's neck. "Fever—"

At the light brush of the man's touch on his spine, blinding pain lanced through Daniel from tailbone to skull. He lost his ability to comprehend Jack.

~~

"It is a singular principle," the priest argued.

Awake again, Daniel felt parched. He was on his right side now, and positive he'd been on his left earlier. Draped with a thin covering, he also knew he was unclothed. How long had he been asleep? Someone had been tending him as he slept, cleaning him, moving him to new, restful positions and probably giving him water, though not enough. Arguing voices intruded again and he still hurt.

"Don't give a rat's ass!" Jack yelled.

"Won't know," Daniel thought he was speaking aloud. "Rat's ass. Won't know what you're talking about." He hurt.

"Your emissary read the law. Only those of the royal blood may do so and thus, in evidence of his spoken word and his obvious Arachosian form he was given the most sacred gift. You too appear to be Arachosian, military man, but certainly not of us. You may not be permitted to have the gift."

The priest's words made perfect sense to Daniel. He just needed to interpret them for Jack. Again. Hadn't he already tried that on their first time in the temple? Just before one of the priests rung a bell and a blast of light hit him? Afterward when he was writhing on the floor in pain? And while Jack was dragging him back to the gate for medical assistance? There'd been a circle of pale stone in the floor before the statue. They'd told him to stand in the circle and ever curious, he'd eagerly moved to the designated marble tiles. He could vaguely recall being on the floor and Jack dragging him from the white light.

Jack was shouting again, or still. Daniel gasped as the pain that had been spread the length of his spine now centered between his shoulder blades, changing from hot explosions to a new, icy stabbing sensation.

Sam was wiping his sweating brow with a damp cloth. He sincerely hoped she would not touch his back or neck. Teal'c's boots were in his line of sight. The Jaffa was standing guard and he was grateful for the solid presence of the man.

"You turned off our weapons! You turned off the gate!"

Jack needed to calm down. His shouting seemed to be causing the new cold pain to vibrate with each word. "Shut him up," he tried to whisper. "Sam, make him be quiet." Turned off the gate? Teal'c hadn't used his staff weapon. Was it too nonfunctional?

She bent low over him. "Daniel, I know you're hurting. Don't try to talk. You're not making any actual words. We're trying to get you home. Just rest."

He wasn't making words? The pain was that bad? All he wanted to do was be heard, to get everyone around him to be quiet, to stop moving, stop touching him, stop the breeze wafting over him, stop the light, gravity, stop, stop, stop. The pain! It swallowed his ability to think.

~~

Jack rested his back against the next-to-bottom step of the statue's dais. His eyes were narrowed, angry. "Twenty-four hours, Carter." He slapped his empty holster. Though they'd been left their zats, Teal'c's staff weapon and Carter's doohickeys, their side arms and P-90s had been taken from them.

"I know, sir." She slid down beside him and stared at Daniel's draped, still form. 

SG-1 had slid the pallet the priests had placed him on to within a foot of the stairs and had all remained within arm's reach of Daniel. The priests had undressed him, bathed him and tended to him until Jack had managed to convince them he and his team were going to take over care of the unconscious man. Their packs, food offerings and pitchers of water and beer along with Daniel's folded clothes rested by the bottom step.

"I've searched every aspect of the globe where the light came from. It's dead. Nothing has power here, including our devices based on Goa'uld and Tokra technology. But Daniel, he's actually sleeping now."

Teal'c still stood guard by Daniel's head, feet planted apart, hands clasped behind his back and his staff weapon, useless for fire-power, but handy to strike the occasional encroaching priest, sat on the ground at his side.

"Twenty-four hours since that…that beam shot him." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the statue. "What Daniel said? Good thoughts, good words, good deeds. Then all hell broke loose. And he said Mazda yada."

"Mazda yasna, and as one word, mazdayasna," Teal'c corrected him. "Daniel Jackson declared the religion as Zoroastrian, but assented that in their language, it is indeed, mazdayasna. The deity depicted behind you is the embodiment of the ruler of that religion, one of conflict between order and truth, falsehood and disorder."

"Goa'uld and Tokra?" Sam supplied.

Teal'c remained silent for several moments before glancing back at the two. "Perhaps." He nodded once.

One of the many priests standing post at the seven arched exits approached the group. He was nodding vigorously. "The act of creation, yes, yes." He genuflected lowly, a wary eye on the fearsome Jaffa. "That of which your ambassador spoke. He is the only one who has come here knowing of the path. He is deserving of the gift—"

Jack rose swiftly. "Deserving of this?" He held his hand out toward Daniel's supine form. "This is a gift?"

"Sir," Sam followed him swiftly. She placed a hand on the crook of his arm. Though Teal'c's weapon and their zats had been rendered inoperable, the Earth weapon technology had not. Her CO had fired several shots into the air at the inactive gate before they'd been overcome by the sheer numbers of the unarmed temple priests. Their firearms were taken from them, but the priests didn't seem to consider a knife a deadly weapon. She kept his hand from going to the sheathed K-bar on his belt. The priests had made serious misjudgment, leaving him the knife.

"Divine spark," the priest said as he knelt and held his palms out toward Jack. "His transformation will show is he is one of the six sparks given to us by our wise lord. The six guide us and help. The seventh way," the man paused to indicate one of the arches, "is how our temple is entered by our wise—"

"Don't give a rat's ass!"

"What is this ass with rat? You've spoken of it before. Do you desire such be brought to you?" The priest eyed him with disdain.

Jack ground his teeth. "Listen, all I'm trying to do is get him back home to a doctor."

"He needs nothing but time to complete the transformation. You interrupted it." The man's tone was definitely accusatory. "It should have been completed with only one hour of divine pain and not this unhappy delay but you interrupted it by pulling him—"

"I damned well sure did interrupt it! Now, let us the hell out of here and turn the damned gate back on! I need to get my man back home where he can get medical attention, you understand me?" He got no response. "What did you do to him? What ARE you doing to him?"

"He is becoming creation He is being put right by the light. Given what he was lacking because of his absence among the royal family at birth, born in the wrong place, we suspect, he should have been born here, among the true believers of the divine one. The mis-step will be forgiven and he will complete the transformation. He should have been born to the royal family here, which, with the passing of each generation, engenders the next embodiment of spark among our people. If he'd been born properly, he would have been trained in the ritual from childhood, known what to expect and would have come for his transformation at a time of his choosing. By stepping into the circle, he made the choice today. Your emissary came to us in all honesty and accepted the gift of Ahura Mazda, the spark. You must respect his choice! Now, he must live well and do good works here among us, your Daniel Spark."

Jack grimaced and rubbed his hand against his pantleg, gently dislodging Carter's cautioning touch. He drew several calming breaths before addressing the groveling priest. He gritted his teeth and shook his head before trying on Daniel's job of diplomacy. "So, you're telling me that Daniel made a choice, here. To get zapped. Then let us go back through the stargate and he can get started on the good works as soon as our doctors get a chance to fix him up."

The priest rose and frowned sorrowfully. "Ahura Mazda will reawaken heaven's gate, your stargate, when the spark is fully formed within the emissary. You interrupted the formation ceremony and we have no knowledge of the consequences." He held up a hand to forestall Jack's returning anger. "Power is needed to spark the transformation, and that power has been taken by divine action from all of Ahura Mazda's implements on this world. It resides within the emissary and should return to Ahura Mazda in due course. We have no control over its return. You should not have interrupted the transformation."

"I don't give a rat's—"

"Wait a minute, sir. I think I understand what he's saying. Somehow," she paused to rise and approach the winged statue, "there's a Goa'uld device in here that's drawing all the power from the DHD, our zats, Teal'c's staff weapon…"

"Can you shut it off, Carter?"

"I don't even know where it is." She turned to him, her blue eyes wide. "I've searched as much of the temple as they'll let me get to, trying to find what electrocuted Daniel."

"The three sparks that reside in our royal family will come to our divine temple to learn of what you have done. Even now we know that the power from all devices, their globes of communication, their viewers, all their devices will also be affected by your transgression. Perhaps in as little as three days they will be able to journey here. They will take him with them once his spark is fully formed."

"Find the damned machine, Carter!" Jack ran up the steps to the statue and struck it with the butt of his knife. Nothing happened. He did manage to make a dent in the gold surface. Jack turned back to the kneeling priest and then glared at all the ones guarding the doorways. They did seem to shrink from his glare, but held their posts. He studied each of them, gauging their resolve, the fanatic strength of their belief in this gold statue of a winged man. He'd done this before, assessed followers. On Abydos, on his and Daniel's first mission, Ra's followers had displayed a flat affect. No emotion. They'd been under the most severe mind control he'd encountered up to that point in his life. Goa'uld technology. And Jack had seen it since that time, among other followers of Goa'uld, even Tokra leadership. These people, these Zoroastrian priests, had emotion and most of what he saw was stubbornness, a little anger here and there, and defiance. But they had fanatical faith, fueled by what was to them, instruments of a god. He'd get no where trying to reason with them quickly.

Maybe a different threat would have an effect. He turned to strike the statue again. "I'll tear this thing down—"

Daniel gasped.

Jack whirled back to him and saw the archaeologist struggling to sit up. Teal'c scooped up his staff weapon and flicked the switch that armed it. The familiar click and whine filled the temple's air. Jack was at Daniel's side, supporting him to sit up.

"Oh, crap!" Daniel swore. "Hand off my back. Jack, your arm! Crap!"

"Danny!" Jack grinned. "Sorry! Sorry!" He shifted his hold lower but didn't turn away from Daniel. "Carter! Your zat workin'?"

"Could you not shout in my ear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"We're movin' out, Teal'c!" Arms under Daniel's, he hoisted the nude man to his feet. Belatedly, he swept up the sheet and draped it over Daniel's shoulder. The archaeologist mumbled an objection but Jack was determined to get him back to Earth as fast as possible. "Gate's probably working if our gear is. Let's go, people!"

Daniel, barefoot and in a less-than adequate toga, re-enacted the retreat. He held Jack's left hand and kept the man's right, low on his hip as he hobbled along. They were not so much pursued this time as surrounded, but not physically blocked.

"You must not leave! The spark. It has not finished! We would see how it has manifested in you. Please, show us!"

Daniel shook his head, his eyes firmly on the ground, making sure he didn't trip or misstep and cause Jack to touch his upper back. It hurt but he had to admit, nothing like the pain of the previous journey. "Jack, slow your steps. I can manage if you'll go slower."

"Lord," one of the priests supplicated himself while making a sideways crab march on Daniel's right. "Please reveal to us the form the spark is creating in you. We wish to know. Please."

"You don't know what the light did to him?" Jack shouted at the priest. "Never mind. We're outta here."

"I feel kind of…not as bad. Numb, maybe. Jack, slower."

"They're not trying to stop us this time, sir."

"You just dial the gate, Carter. Soon as you see it, you break for it and dial home. If it doesn't work we're not going to let them herd us back to that damned temple."

"If we went back—" Daniel started to argue.

"Not gonna happen! They told us some king and queen are coming here to scope us out."

He gritted his teeth as the path grew rocky. "My boots."

"Yeah, Carter, give him his boots. Teal'c, keep 'em back while we take a breather."

"Pants first," Daniel objected. Steadied by Jack, he accepted Sam's help with pants. A shirt was out of the question but his boots were a relief. Underwear and socks weren't a necessity. He left the sheet on the ground, accepted Jack's supporting hold again and they were off toward the gate at the same rate, just more steadily. Daniel's face was in a hard grimace as the gate whirred, the kawhoosh greeted them and Sam announced the GDO signal as green.

On the other side of the puddle he was even more grateful for his boots. The metallic ring of the gate ramp was immensely sweet music. "Infirmary," he whispered to Jack.

"I got 'ya."

Hours later he was alone with Jack, dressed in a paper gown with paper boxers and skid resistant socks, sitting on the side of a soft bed. Jack was an arm's span from him, also sitting on the side of the soft bed. He wanted nothing more than to lie on his stomach by Jack and sleep for a week. The cold pain between his shoulder blades had settled to a dull ache, and he was exhausted.

"We'll find out what's wrong with you."

Janet joined them in the deserted ward. She stopped on the other side of the bed between the two and laid an open folder down. "Well, there's nothing wrong with you."

Daniel glared at her. This was just like the time he and Jack had come back through the gate from PJ2-445, the planet of the white plants. She'd declared there was nothing wrong with them. While she'd been right, at that moment, there was something wrong.

She continued. "You've suffered what I would guess was an electric shock, but no signs of entry or exit burns. You've got muscle fatigue up and down your back, but no bruising, no breaks, no skin abrasions. You've got numbness stretching from scapula to scapula, but no apparent cause or source. There's nothing wrong that our instruments or x-rays can detect. The numbness is obviously nerve damage from the electric shock that Sam observed you receive."

"I saw it too," Jack chimed in. "And T. He was there, Doc. We all saw that statue shoot Daniel out of its balls."

Janet peered at him silently.

"Well, it did. One ball. The ball it was holding in its hand. Bolt of light, sort of. I wouldn't say it was a bolt of lightening. But it shot him."

"And it hurt like hell," Daniel protested.

She closed the folder. "As I said, nothing our instruments can detect. I'm keeping you here under observation for at least twenty-four hours. We'll reassess at that time. You say the pain has dropped to a one or two?"

"I could use another one of those codeine pills."

"For you to ask for codeine, the pain must be higher than a two, Daniel." Janet moved behind him, untied the paper gown and ran a light touch over his upper back. "Does this hurt?"

"I don't feel anything. Are you touching me? Ouch! Yeah. What did you do?"

"The numbness is centered between your shoulder blades. Lower than that, you've got pain sensation even to a light touch. I'll order the drug and you'll get some rest."

He nodded.

"And you, Colonel, will go home and let him sleep!"

Jack peered at her silently, just as she had done to him minutes earlier.

Janet shook her head, shrugged and left the two men alone.

~~

The numbness shrank to a patch the size of his palm over the next few days. Janet continued to assure him it was residual nerve damage, and was frank with him that she was baffled about the absence of an exit point for the bolt of what the colonel insisted was electricity. She had a neurologist examine him with no more conclusive results. She ran three additional MRI exams, again with no conclusive results. The day before he was to be allowed to continue work an MRI found something. 

"It's a thickening of tendons in your upper back, and what appears to be subcutaneous scar tissue."

"What does this mean?"

"I'm stumped, Daniel. You've definitely got nerve damage from the shock. The change in tendons is slight and will give you no problems. This scar tissue is thin, but I don't know why I didn't see trauma that led to it. You won't be going off-world tomorrow."

He was disappointed and didn't look forward to telling Jack he was still earth-bound. Jack would go without him, he assumed, possibly taking Nyan who was proving to be a decent archaeologist. The Bedrosian had an immense curiosity and none of the closed-mindedness of many Earth-origin archaeologists in the Stargate program. Daniel made his way to the briefing room, summoned at the end of his medical exam for a meeting with General Hammond and Sam. He sat, somewhat cautious in his movements, across from her.

"Doctor Jackson, Captain Carter tells me repeated attempts to dial back to the planet of Arachosia has been unsuccessful."

"They've locked us out somehow," Sam explained. She opened the folder before her and referred to printouts from the dialing computer. "I suspect that whatever device they had that disabled all Goa'uld and Tokra technology is responsible. We're not able to get back there to investigate what they did to you."

"Yeah. I thought that might happen. We interfered with what I suspect is their highest religious ceremony. They offered me an honor, though I didn't understand the full impact. When I was in the beam of light, Jack pulled me out of it. I mean, think about it. If some alien race had materialized inside the Vatican and jerked a supplicant away from the act of taking holy communion, basically the same thing Jack did, if they did that in the presence of the Pope, would any Roman Catholic priest keep the door open so the aliens could come back and do it again?"

Sam blinked at him and then looked at the general. 

George nodded understandingly. "Doctor Fraser is keeping you here a bit longer."

Daniel clenched his hands and then forced himself to relax. "Yes. Just a bit. She's being overly cautious."

"I could contact Dad, see if the Tokra have any idea of what was done to you."

Daniel nodded silently but inside, seethed. "Everyone is making a big fuss over nothing. I got zapped, I'm sore and I have some scar tissue. We all need to get over it and move on."

The general and the captain exchanged concerned looks. Daniel left them to their over-worried state and retreated to his office. He had time to do a little research on Zoroastrianism, a culture and religion he had found of no interest in his academic studies.

~~

Off world at last! Daniel smiled in righteous satisfaction as he followed Jack down the stone steps of a distant Stargate. A beautiful dawn greeted them, shining on an open glade of deep green grass and tiny white flowers. He pulled a Kleenex from his pocket but the anticipated sneezing didn't start. His smile grew wider. A brook bisected the meadow, mirroring a trail of the blue sky. The weather was ideal for the task at hand and he adjusted the brim of his booney hat. It was a beautiful setting. 

Daniel remembered that first, fateful trip through the gate. Jack had been far ahead of him, in the point position, wearing a beret. His men had followed him, wearing helmets. Daniel had trailed them, a green baseball cap on his head and wonder in his heart.

"So, Carter, where are the little nanobites you were so interested in? In the trees, no doubt?" Jack pulled down his shades and eyed her over the top of the rims.

"Sir, the readings from the aerial probe sent through the gate thirty-seven days ago—"

"Yadda yadda," Jack interrupted. "Just…which way?"

Daniel chuckled. Jack managed to sound as if he'd lost patience with her hours ago and they'd only just arrived. He'd shown the same impatience in the gateroom when Sam was explaining their destination would take the wormhole close to Earth's sun in less than a day, so their departure and return had to be kept to a strict schedule to avoid what they'd experienced when attempting to travel to P2X-555 and ended up in 1969. Yes, the dialing computer program had been updated to avoid such hazards, but there was still a risk that could be easily avoided.

Daniel half-listened to her, which was more than Jack did, but the majority of his attention was on the beautiful planet they stood on now. He followed the team as the struck out north, over gently rolling hills. Their destination, Sam had explained was an outcropping of pink rock that rimmed a distant canyon. A little over halfway to their destination, a night under the stars, camping by a small, reed-rimmed pond gave Daniel a peaceful night's sleep, the best he'd had in weeks. Mid-morning the following day they reached Sam's canyon and set to work exploring the find. It was mid afternoon when Jack called a second halt to the exploration of the outcropping. 

Quartz crystals that seemed to emanate a mild form of energy had proven her suspicions correct. Daniel was glad to see that Sam was happy, ignoring the suggestion of rest and continuing on her survey. Teal'c was loading samples into small jars. He and Jack rested amid their pile of packs and open food containers.

Daniel stripped off his jacket and shirt and spread them on the ground, laying face down on the cloth for a nap. His back had been itching since they'd stepped through the gate and the unfiltered sunlight felt great on his skin.

Jack plopped down beside him, a pack for a backrest. "Gonna get sunburned?"

"You offering to lotion up my back for me?" Daniel whispered.

Jack chuckled and leaned over him. "Might just do that. Maybe tonight, when it's dark."

Daniel drifted off to sleep. He dreamed of Jack's warm touch, fingers tracing down his spine, around his ribs, Jack's sweet lips kissing his shoulder blades. Daniel stretched and groaned in appreciation of the attention. He turned his head to the other side, flexing his back.

"Danny, Danny. Daniel, wake up! Hey."

"What?" He tried to ignore the hand shaking his shoulder. "What, Jack," he protested. The nap still compelled him, the warmth of the sun seductively enticing, the clear smell of the meadow air enthralling his senses.

"Carter! Teal'c!"

Daniel finally recognized the panic in Jack's voice. It was for him. He opened his eyes and moved to rise.

"Hold still! Carter, you seeing this?"

"Yes, sir. Daniel, what do you feel?"

"What?" he demanded. "Jack, let go of me." He brushed at the hand gripping his shoulder. "Ow! Sunburned? How long was I—"

"S'not sunburn. You've got something on your back."

"What the hell?" Daniel pushed himself up and tried to twist around. "Ow! Did I get stung? Is something stinging me?"

"Hold still. Carter, can you—"

"It's coming out of his back, sir. Daniel, hold still. There are white…hairs…filaments coming out of your upper back. Between your shoulder-blades. Teal'c, my magnifying glass? It's not on him sir, it's in him. And growing!"

"What the hell? Somebody explain—Ow! Don't touch it, whatever it is."

"Sir, I wouldn't yank on the fibers. They're getting bigger."

Jack leaned closer. "Lots of little ones. I thought it was stuck in him. It's coming out of him. Back to the gate!"

Daniel felt like pushing or stretching. It was an odd sensation, tinged with sharp pains. He rose to his feet and bowed his arms, straining his back muscles. "Oh, that stopped the pain." He took several steps forward, away from the others.

"O'Neill, we should take Daniel Jackson back through the Stargate to seek medical assistance. The fibers are immense now and growing wider."

"Yeah, Daniel, they're spreading out in the air. You've got to get back to the SGC." Jack reached for him but Daniel moved farther away. 

His glasses had fallen in his scramble to rise. He brushed at his shoulders and then held his palms out toward Jack. "No," Daniel objected. "Give me a minute. I need to…stretch." He hunched forward, stretching his back muscles. The pain was completely gone now, and he rose to his full height, stretching his arms over his head. "I need to…move." He could feel his muscles straining, shifting, and his back definitely wasn't itching any longer.

"Holy Hannah! Daniel, you've got…"

It was Jack who finished her sentence in a tone of absolute astonishment. "Wings."

Daniel could feel the sunlight on his back so much better now. He twirled, his back to the western sky and sighed in satisfaction at the wonderful sensation of warmth. But this brought him face-to-face with his team and they all looked stunned.

"Wings, Daniel," Jack repeated as if scolding a naughty child.

"What are you talking about?" Daniel tried to look over his shoulder but a wide white object blocked his view. "What the hell is that?"

"A wing!" Jack repeated again. "You've got one on the other side."

"I have not!" Daniel denied, even as he turned to look and saw an identical white object jutting out horizontally from the height of his shoulders. It stuck out many feet. Just how far, he was unable to judge from his vantage point. This caused him to spin around to try to see better. With wings causing a block to air movement, he tripped over his own feet and went sprawling on the ground. The white protrusions, flattened out without pain beneath his weight. Daniel had to wriggle a bit to get a hand past the trailing edge of the wing and onto the bare grass to push himself upright. He rose again.

"Jack?" He turned to the colonel, bewilderment sharpening his tone to a shrill note of panic. He'd seen feathers! When trying to get leverage to get up, the object in his way was a wing! With perfectly white feathers!

"It'll be all right," Jack assured him in a very no-nonsense tone.

"How the hell is this going to be all right?" He tried reaching behind him. He could feel the small of his back, bare and warm from the sun. Stretching up he could just barely brush his fingertips across something velvety soft, feathery. It felt like feathers emanating from some hard thing coming out of his back! What he'd seen was real. He could feel feathers!

"Hold still," Jack commanded sharply.

Daniel tried but failed. The strange sensation he'd had, the itching had burst forth again and he twirled, one hand over his shoulder, the other straining up his back. He could feel the top of the right protrusion, springing from just between his shoulder blade and his spine. The base of it was sensitive to the touch. On Earth the area had been numb. Not so now! He gasped, but kept probing the area. It was irresistible. The bottom, his left hand hardly making contact, was not as sensitive. He bowed his back and felt his skin flex and move. The ridged protrusions moved out of reach of his lower hand. Daniel stood again and switched his efforts, the right hand going under and the left up high. That side was just as sensitive and in the same way. He shuddered and closed his eyes. "Itches," he tried to explain, but it didn't really…itch any longer. That was the best description he could give. After his second bout of stretching, the second wave of itching had completely stopped. He took stock of himself. He felt no pain.

Jack was dancing around trying to stay in front of him through his gyrations. Daniel halted when Jack grabbed his shoulders and stared into his eyes. "Jack?" At the look of alarm on Jack's face, Daniel felt a resurgence of the panic that had gripped him when he fell. But now it was stronger, reinforced by the shared confusion, but Jack held him in place. He was grateful for that grounding hold, more grateful than he could put into words.

"Daniel, hold still."

That was impossible. He stretched, standing as tall as possible, then flexed, bowing his back. He stretched up again. The need to stretch was much more overwhelming than the mild itching had been on the walk from the gate. Sam was behind him, touching lightly, talking rapidly.

"Tiny fibers coming out of, I guess his pores," Sam said. "And they join together to make the larger mass we first observed. Not sure if they fuse, or just touch, then spread out to make these. I swear, sir, they look like actual feathers."

"Carter," Jack's tone scolded while at the same time, seeming to urge her to supply more answers.

"What's happening to me?" Daniel whispered.

Jack shifted his hold from Daniel's shoulders to cup his face. Daniel grasped Jack's wrists and kept his gaze locked with Jack. The desperate need to stretch was dropping to a mild urge.

"We need to get him back through the gate, sir."

"Yeah," Jack said softly, and then glanced over his shoulder. "Teal'c, pack it up! Let's head back as fast as we can."

"Sir, we can't dial directly to Earth for another two days. Perhaps P3X-984, the Alpha site? They'll have medical equipment we don't have with us."

"The Alpha site is a no-go. Hammond's debrief told me they were undergoing a decontamination. Let's get back to the gate, think of other destinations on the march."

Daniel backed away from Jack's touch. "I can't…I just…No shirt. No pack on my back. I don’t want to try walking back there right now. I just need to…stretch." He reached his arms out to his sides and felt muscles rippling along his back. The white forms echoed his movement and he could see the tips now. They were immense! The size alarmed him. They stretched out twice the length of his body on either side of him.

"Definitely feathers," Sam commented. "Tiny white fibers forming feathers. And formed on a central shaft that's the equivalent of quills, the way the fibers clump at the base. Amazing."

She circled around to the front of him and peered at the formations. When she reached a hand out to touch the left one, Daniel stumbled backward, ending up on the ground again. He gasped, not in pain but in distress. Rising was as much a problem as it had been before. The left wing bowed under him as he rolled, and surprised him with its flexibility.

"Carter!" Jack drew her back. He then knelt in front of the fallen man. "Let me take your pulse, do some basic first aid, at least. We can talk about walking back to the gate after that."

Daniel, bewildered and wanting nothing more than to stand and stretch, gave into Jack's desire. He held out a wrist, but obediently stayed on the ground.

Carter and Teal'c busied themselves packing supplies from the clearing. Jack touched Daniel's wrist and then the base of his throat. "Steady, but fast. Understandable. Do you hurt? Like when the statue shot you with its balls?"

"Ball. One," he corrected with a glare.

Jack smirked. "Want some water? And you didn't really answer my question."

Daniel nodded. "Yes. To the water, that is. No to the pain. I just feel this overwhelming need to stretch. It's sensitive."

Jack reached over Daniel's shoulder and touched the left wing's joint. He snatched his hand away when Daniel gasped.

"Sensitive," Daniel assured him. "Not pain."

"Your skin around where it's come out, it's really soft."

Daniel stayed silent and nodded. He adjusted his glasses and peered at Jack. "What does it look like back there?"

"Well, hold still and I'll get a good look." Jack crept forward on his knees and peered over Daniel's shoulder. Carter's earlier description had been accurate. Tiny white fibers seemed to be coming from every pore of Daniel's skin between his shoulder blades. The fibers branched off into two groupings, one forming a trunk on each side of his spine. That thick trunk spread out horizontally and from it, the fibers divided again to form feathers. "Feathers."

Daniel touched Jack's sides, steadying him as he sank into a crouch. They locked eyes. "Feathers. Wings?" He breathed with Jack, filled his senses with the man's sight, sound, touch. Daniel felt his pulse slowing.

"Two wings, yeah. One on each side coming out of your back. How the hell…That statue caused this. It had wings. Remember?"

"How could I forget?" Daniel grimaced. "Zoroastrian. The iconic figure of their god. With wings spanning out horizontally from the standing man, half encircled. Like a stargate. Never thought of that before. The ring?"

"No idea what you're talking about," Jack said. He patted Daniel's arm, keeping his touch there and rubbing his bare skin lightly.

The meadow under them was a solid carpet of grass. There was no dirt to draw in. Daniel looked toward his backpack. "I'll sketch it out for you, but you remember the statue? It was of an upright male figure, with wings about two feet from leading edge to trailing, and maybe twelve feet long per span? Around that figure's lower half was a ring, like…" He assessed the man he was speaking to and came up with an analogy. "A hula-hoop, Jack. And it was about chest-high."

"Hula hoop. Yeah? You think that was a rudimentary form of a stargate?"

Daniel nodded. "I do now. Never did before. To be frank, I always thought the Zoroastrian culture and religion was boring. Monotheistic, though, in a time on Earth when that was rare. I didn't bother with it until we got back from that last mission. Though there was nothing in any of the material I studied to indicate any Goa'uld involvement. This though," he paused to point over his shoulder, "combined with what we encountered on our last trip, has given me a reason to reconsider."

"Like Teal'c said, we need to get you home."

"I need to stretch, Jack." Daniel squeezed Jack's right forearm and licked his lips. He held the man's gaze steadily.

Jack touched his shoulder and wrinkled his brow. "Look, Daniel. We can't get through the gate to home for a day or so. We could start back, though. There are other places we could gate to, get you some help."

Daniel held onto Jack's shoulders as he climbed ungracefully to his feet, the new appendages hindering even the smallest movement. "The help I need from you right now is to let me…stretch. I don't hurt, not really. I kind of ache though. And this," he stumbled as he tried to turn away, "is damned clumsy."

"Can you pull 'em back in? They don't look like they fold."

Daniel studied his shadow on the meadow's green blanket. "Clumsy. Zoroastrian. Not even Egyptian!"

Jack blinked at him. "The shape? That's what's got you upset?"

Daniel turned quickly to face him, indignation plain to see on his face. He ended up on his rump, glaring up at the man.

~~ 

After only a two hour hike Daniel called a halt. "Every step is an effort. I feel like I'm walking upstream against a strong current."

"Okay." Jack slung his P-90 onto his back and peered over his sunglasses at their surroundings. They were under tall, sheltering trees on the edge of the upper slope of another meadow. "We'll take a break. Go to ground, boots on."

Carter and Teal'c, burdened with the supplies Daniel had been carrying on their trip from the gate, made an impromptu camp, bringing out water and ration bars.

Daniel eyed his boots and then defied Jack. Getting back to his now-bare feet wasn't easy. "Feels much better."

Jack approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He whispered with a grin. "Keep your pants on, at least."

Daniel gaped at him, abashed. "How can you even say such a thing?"

Jack shrugged. "You're more than half naked, you know."

"And achy. Sort of. I need to stretch."

"Instead of stretching have you tried to pull the wings in? I mean, can you control them at all?" He shook his head and frowned. "I can't believe I'm having to ask you to try folding your…wings, for cryin' out loud."

Daniel turned very slowly away and took a few steps. He reached his arms out to his sides and bowed forward slightly. "No."

"Well, they did kind 'a go down a bit and maybe got scrunchier."

"Did they?" He turned back to Jack, and ended up on one knee instead of his rump. "That's an improvement, right?"

"They heavy?"

"Not at all. They just create drag even in the slightest breeze, or when I try to walk." Daniel rose and walked several yards back into the meadow, into the full sunlight. "Feels great. The sunlight."

Jack trailed after him. They were very far from Carter and Teal'c. Jack glanced over his shoulder to fix their position. The two were resting in the shade, Teal'c's head up and alert, Carter's bowed, rummaging through a pack. He turned back to Daniel. "You don't hurt any more?"

"I think I feel…fine. I feel okay, actually. Maybe too warm. But the sun feels good. Helped relieve the itch earlier."

Jack walked with Daniel up an incline to take better advantage of a cool breeze. "Feel better?"

"You keep asking me how I feel. You're worried about me."

"Of course I am. You've got something growing inside you and it's spilled out of your back."

"Inside? I don't feel anything strange inside."

Jack touched his shoulder and Daniel turned to face him. Jack ran his hand over and down to Daniel's upper back, the men standing face to face.

"Feel anything inside? Under my skin?"

"No. I—" Jack broke off as Daniel moaned. "Hurts?"

Daniel closed his eyes. "No. Sensitive there. Oh. That area…"

"Base of the wings, I think. Trapezoids. Where they join your back."

"Go on the outside. I mean, not between my shoulder blades. Touch along the outside. Like…under. Underside of the wing joint."

Jack stepped closer and brought both hands around Daniel's lax arms. He probed with his fingertips along the velvety skin where the wing fibers emerged. The skin was warm and pliant, as it had always been, but softer. Daniel moaned in his arms. Jack felt a flash of panic, peered back toward their companions, but discovered an excellent screening of trees blocked them from view now. That moan had not been from pain. That was Daniel feeling sexual. It had taken him a moment to realize it, in this setting, Daniel being in what Jack could only feel was danger from the result of an alien artefact zapping him.

Daniel laid his forehead against Jack's shoulder. "More," he whispered.

Jack brushed his lips against Daniel's temple and put on hold his concern about the temple, the priests, their stupid statue. He moved his hands up and down. "I don't feel anything underneath your skin. Just, you're very soft here now." He matched Daniel's whispering tone.

"Sensitive," Daniel whispered as he brought his body into firmer contact with Jack's. "Feels amazing."

Jack tried not to grin. "You're hard." His worry was firmly pushed back. He concentrated on what Daniel needed from him at this moment and in this place.

Daniel snuggled against Jack's neck. "Am? Under the skin?" He moaned in pleasure.

Jack lightened his touch, running fingertips from top to bottom of each wing's joint. "Not there. Somewhere lower." Placing his lips against the man's ear, he whispered, "Danny. You're hard." He trailed his left hand out along the feathers, smoothing, stroking the amazing structure. Soft as a feather, such a cliché, fit! Each feather curved to his gentle probing, brushing him as he brushed them.

"Mm. Yeah. Feels fantastic. Higher. Oh, yes. Jack?" He lifted his head, offering his lips.

Jack gave up the struggle to avoid grinning. "Fantastic?" He kissed Daniel.

"Yeah," Daniel finally answered after a long kiss. "Your touch. Always."

"But right now? Kind of more so here?" His right hand, still under a wing, stroked warm flesh firmly.

Daniel pressed his forehead to Jack's shoulder again and moaned softly. "We shouldn't be doing this here. Now. No privacy. You're going to make me come."

"Shit," Jack whispered through a toothy grin. "Yeah. Not the time or the place." He slid his hands from Daniel's back but the man gripped him tighter. Jack responded instantly to Daniel's need, touched him again, one hand beneath the fold of the right wing, but his other hand, the one that had been exhilaratingly playing with feathers a moment earlier, now roamed lower between their bodies. He pressed the length of his palm against Daniel's erection. "Just a quick stroke or two, okay?"

Daniel humped against him and nipped his neck. "Gahh," was all he got out before he spilled seed into his underwear. "Damn."

Jack captured his lips and kissed him. "Yeah, got me all hot and bothered but this is definitely not the time or the place for both of us…"

"To get off?" Daniel tried to push himself away but Jack steadied him and held him at arm's length.

"They are definitely scrunching up, Daniel. The wings. Kind of toward the back now, like I guess, folds of a cape? Know what I mean?"

He kept to his feet as Jack turned him, inspecting his back. "That was amazing."

"The feathers are almost gone. The fibers Carter was talking about? All going back into your pours."

"Wings are going away?" Daniel was surprised at the dismay in his tone of voice.

"Yep. Back inside you. I can feel your traps softening. Does it hurt?"

"Nothing inside. I itch a bit. Don't touch the area, Jack. I have a feeling it's still pretty sensitive."

"So that made them go away? You getting off?"

"Oh my God, am I going to have to describe that to Janet when we get back home?"

"Eh," Jack began. "Maybe we'll leave that part out unless absolutely necessary?"

"I need to find a place to clean up." Daniel pulled at the fly of his pants.

"Stream at the bottom of this meadow. Could go take a quick dip."

"And wash out my underwear. Or just throw them away."

"Leave them for some future archaeological expedition. Alien artefact," Jack said with a chuckle. Relief was clear in his tone of voice.

"Semen-soaked artefact." Daniel shook his head.

~~

Jack made the decision to camp at the site. Daniel was tired and trying to force-march to the gate farther in the evening was pointless. The wings had retracted, but he decided he and Daniel would sleep at the water's edge. Teal'c and Carter were yards away, up a rise, at the tree line, a small camp-fire blazing cheerfully. Teal'c was pleased with the vantage point he had, though the planet had thus far proven to be void of predatory life forms.

Daniel stretched out on the sleeping bag beside Jack, wearing nothing but one of his other pair of clean underwear. The washed pair would probably be dry by morning. Jack, on his side, gazed at Daniel's profile. Daniel was staring up at the stars, his hand behind his head for a pillow. His chest rose and fell gently. Jack reached out and placed a hand in the middle of his chest. Daniel turned his head and smiled at him. Jack studied his moon-lit eyes and then rose far enough to pull off his glasses and kiss him. "Love you," he whispered between kisses.

"You," Daniel echoed. He shifted, rolling onto his side to face Jack and cupped his strong jawline. "Love you."

"Think they're gone for good?" Jack traced a light touch over Daniel's shoulder and down his spine. He could clearly recall the velvety softness but it wasn't present now.

"Don't know. Sunlight, I think. Sunlight may have triggered them. Sam said the things reminded her of fiber optic filaments."

"We'll worry about it when we get home."

"You're worried now. I don't hurt. When they came out, it kind of itched, my back. When they were out, I just felt the warmth of the sun, your touch too. When you brushed the feathers? That felt good too. Loved it when you brushed the feathers. They don't have feeling. More like when you brush you hand over my hair."

Jack pressed harder on Daniel's back. "And under the wings. You liked that." He grinned as Daniel moved in for another kiss.

"I did. I wish the wings weren't Zoroastrian. I mean, they come out vertically from my body so yes, like you say, under them is more the side of them. The side of my body. But if they were Egyptian…"

"You sound disappointed, you know."

"I do?"

"You do. If they were Egyptian?"

"Falcon wings. In the earliest dynasties, the sun had falcon wings. Curved, graceful. Though, Isis had feathers, wings that extended from her arms. Not exactly the same as Zoroastrian wings. But if these were more like falcon wings, the shape is more what someone could actually use to fly."

"Hold it there, fella. No trying to fly if they come back. Got it?"

Daniel rose onto his elbows and glared down at Jack. "Making no promises. The feeling, Jack. The feeling was…amazing. I can't put it into words yet. I could probably have glided down a bit. If I had been higher on the meadow ridge."

"Nope!"

"And maybe a good updraft," Daniel continued, deep in thought. "If there was an updraft, because you realize I don't have hollow bones like birds. They weren't nearly big enough to lift me. Wings big enough would be enormous! The heaviest bird capable of flight on Earth weighs 35 pounds. But if you're looking at dinosaurs, I would need a wingspan of probably 35 feet. A quetzalcoatlus. Much larger than, say, a pterosaur."

"You're kidding, right?" He knew Daniel was serious and his effort to derail a lecture failed. Jack sighed and listened in silence and in twilight. He lamented his failure to pack a yo-yo for the trip. 

The sky was beautiful, a blanket of black with glimmering diamond points stretching from horizon to horizon. The sunset had been over two hours ago and the western rim had just now lost its purple edge. He listened to the insects, the breeze through the trees and Daniel's soft voice. Jack scooted until his head was resting on Daniel's shoulder. Beautiful night.

~~

Dawn was a rude awakening. Daniel wasn't beside him. Jack sat up quickly and scanned around, finding him almost instantly on the highest peak of the meadow's eastern rim. Dressed still in only what he'd slept in, his arms were outstretched and white wings were forming from his back. Thrusting the erotic element of the image of winged Daniel out of his mind, Jack scrambled into pants and boots and raced up the incline. "Danny!"

On the rim, Daniel turned to him. "Hey, hey. Don't worry. I'm just stretching. Felt the need to stretch. Yes, I know they're coming out of my back, the white fibers. I can feel them. I felt an itch and decided not to suppress it. It's not the sun that does it. It's the feeling of stretching combined with concentration."

"No flying!" Jack slid to as stop and shook his finger.

"I told you last night. Not really possible. They're too small. I'm too heavy. I could possibly glide a bit."

"No gliding! You could fall and break something and then what would we do? We're still a day's walk from the gate!"

"I could glide low to the ground—"

"I said—"

Daniel stepped forward, leaning into the decline of the hillock. With three fast steps he was air-born.

"Shit!" Jack stomped his feet and started after the man.

Glide, he did. Jack had to admit. Though he was only able to keep pace with Daniel for a few yards, he could clearly see the man was only a few feet off the ground for the entire slope. At the bottom he stretched one leg down, tripped, caught his balance with the other and finished his touch-down with several running steps. Jack caught up to him, breathless and pissed off as hell. "What did I tell you!"

"Gliding was an after-thought," Daniel explained. He turned back to Jack, the wings folding downward slightly "Hey. Just discovered something else. If I roll my shoulders back like this, the wings drop a bit. Not so clumsy. I'm worn out too. That was exhausting. I'll tell that to Janet. Not the way of making them go completely away."

"What way?" Sam trotted up to the pair, Teal'c only a step behind. "Daniel, that was fantastic. We saw you take off. What way of making them go away? You never did explain that last night over supper."

Jack snarled. He wasn't sure who he was snarling at, her or feather-boy, but he was snarling!

~~

A short meal, a fast wash in the stream and the four were marching toward the gate. Daniel trailed behind the others, shirtless, wings tucked down almost completely behind him and his head down, his spirits flagging. He was in boots, pants and holding a backpack in front by its straps.

This morning, the impulse had been irresistible. Jack had lectured long and loud about his tendency to touch, to taste, to stick his nose in the proverbial unknown too quickly. Caution to the wind had been a phrase that got repeated a couple of times during Jack's steam-venting episode. And he was right. Daniel remembered assuring General West that he could get the first team through the gate back to Earth. He'd wanted to go, and had thrown all caution to the wind and stepped through, hoping he could figure out how to dial them back home, provided there was even a gate on the other side. What if their destination had simply been an empty planet, the end of a wormhole with no anchoring gate?

And what if he'd stepped off that slope and the wings had disappeared? He'd have taken quite a tumble. If he had to do it over again, he would. And he knew how much that attitude actually upset and worried Jack.

Daniel glanced around. He trailed the team by about thirty yards now and there were several outcroppings that would make excellent launch points close at hand. He could probably climb up one, launch and be gliding before Jack realized he'd left the group! Great idea! He set his pack down softly and hurriedly moved toward one. The wings lifted with his excitement and the wind resistance they caused tripped him up on his second hurried step. He took that tumble, but only over his own feet. Jack hoisted him up and Daniel met his glare unabashedly. Jack's grip on his upper arms was just a bit beyond firm.

"Carter! Teal'c!" Jack bellowed, never taking his eyes off his captive. "Bivouac where you are! Feather-boy and I are going to take a stroll into the woods!"

"You going to clip my wings?" Daniel challenged him.

"You gonna try telling me you weren't heading for that rise over there? Try another solo flight?" Jack didn't wait for a response. He dropped his pack and P-90 beside Daniel's and tugged him off to the south toward a copse of trees. "Privacy."

"Seriously, Jack?" Daniel balked but was tugged along. His shoulders tense, the wings had extended even farther, completely horizontal now. His left wing brushed against Jack, the white feathers surrounding the Colonel. It didn't make him look heavenly at all. He flexed his shoulder and the wing rose, brushing the top of Jack's head. Feathers splayed along the edge of the man's face and Daniel smiled. He turned and with concentration on what he thought must be the appendage's connection to the nerves in his shoulder, managed to coil it slightly. It encircled Jack. "Beautiful. Definitely not angelic, though."

"Cut it out!" Jack snarled as he'd been doing ever since Daniel's flight. "Uh. You can bend it now?" A little smile played at the corners of his mouth, erasing the earlier snarl.

"Appears so. If I move my shoulder up, it comes up, and if I kind of bow it, like I'm stretching my shoulder forward, I mean, it curled around you."

Jack stopped their fast march but kept holding onto Daniel. He brushed the side of his face against the splayed feathers as he spoke. "It hurting you? All this movement?"

"No. Not at all. Just…sensitive when the sun hits my back in certain areas. Like where you touched yesterday? That area. And under there it doesn't get sunlight unless I push one of the wings away from my body. Jack, are you seriously dragging me off into the trees to force me to have sex with you?"

Jack doubled his grip and drew a deep breath. He glared. "Never had to force anything between us before, have I?"

"I want to glide. I want to try it." Daniel turned them until his back was to their distant companions. He curled his shoulders, wings up as high as possible to shield them from view. He cradled Jack's face in his hands and kissed him. "I'm not trying to manipulate you through love. I know you don't mean to try to manipulate me through sex. It would be non-consensual if you did it right now. Give yourself a minute to realize that."

"I just need to keep you safe." Jack dropped his gaze and swallowed. "Danny. Please. I just need you to give yourself a minute too. Realize what you're risking. If you fell…" Jack pressed his hands over Daniel's and closed his eyes. He kissed the man's fingers.

"Okay," Daniel whispered. "Yes. I understand what you're saying. Crap. We're going to have to break apart. My wings, our shield from Sam and Teal'c, are drooping."

Jack laughed and released his touch, stepping back. "Okay, I understand you want to try it again. It's consuming you, this need to feel that sensation again? To glide. I remember my early days of learning to fly."

"Help me, then."

Jack found a suitably gentle slope, far from and out of sight of the rest of the team and got in front of Daniel. "You'll just lean into it, and take quick, but not big steps down-hill. Let the air lift you. Don’t force it." Jack began to walk backward.

"The air lift me. Right." Daniel adjusted his glasses and licked his lips. "Now I'm nervous."

"You're gonna keep your boots on. You're gonna only get a few feet off the ground. There's no updraft here so it's just going to be the air passing under your wings lifting you. Got that?"

Daniel swallowed and then nodded. He shifted his balance, bending at his hips and began to pace down the slope. On his fifth step his foot lost contact with the ground. The tension in his shoulders and back was noticeable. Had it been so on his first glide? He hadn't noticed! Left foot on the ground and then he was airborne, gliding toward Jack. He shouted in excitement, wordlessly, joyously. Jack was shouting back at him, but not with joy or abandonment. Jack's voice was full of worry, caution and command. Daniel complied with whatever the man was telling him to do. His mind seemed to be yards behind him, his body well ahead. Jack urged him to bend his knees, to shift his weight forward to maintain a glide at the same altitude.

At the bottom of the gentle slope, Jack was running beside him, still giving him instructions. Daniel kept his head up as instructed, reached down with one toe, and then the other, running with Jack. Knees flexed, he took the shock of the landing without difficulty. "How did you know? To keep my head up?"

"Balance," Jack declared. He steadied Daniel, peering intently into his eyes. "You okay? Any strain?"

Daniel rested his hands on Jack's forearms. "I'm good." He smiled. "Very. Thank you. It was easy."

"Seriously, Daniel. Any strain on your back? Shoulders? The wings kind of look bigger right now. How about your neck? You looked good up there, but still." Jack ran his hands over Daniel's neck and shoulders. "I should probably avoid touching…you know, back there."

"Touch back there," Daniel whispered as he closed the small distance between their bodies. He kissed Jack.

Privacy. Jack always wanted privacy. This time they found it in a half circle of wide-leaved bushes adorned with palm-sized pink flowers. Jack turned him away and tugged the right wing away. Daniel almost shouted with pleasure when Jack's lips brushed the skin under the wing. He licked and nipped at the skin. Daniel gasped and then arched his back, affording Jack more access.

Jack shifted, his left leg between Daniel's, his right arm encircling his waste. He shifted their combined weight back a bit and brought his left arm up between Daniel's wings and over his shoulder. Daniel kissed his fingers. 

"Baby, your pants. I can't manage the zip."

Daniel unzipped them and let them and his clean underwear drop around his spread knees. Jack bent lower and licked the skin under Daniel's right wing. "Same for me. Reach back. Undo my pants. I want you right here, right now."

Fumbling and breathless, Daniel managed to get Jack's belt open, his pants down and arched into contact with him.

Jack was so engorged, his cock so heavy that he really wanted to break away and take a look at himself. Surely his balls must be the size of grapefruits about now. They were up tight against his body, probably barely bumps at the base of his fat cock. It must look like the world's biggest salami about now! He'd seen a fat one hanging in a deli window in Chicago one winter. Yeah! That size.

Daniel reached back between them touched his hard cock and Jack winced. "Not going off until I'm inside you. Fingers off the goods, feather-boy." Jack brushed his face against the soft appendages and at the same time, moved his right hand to grope for Daniel's cock. It was as hard as his. He wrapped his gloved hand around it, belatedly realizing he should have shucked off the fingerless gloves. He managed, with teeth and frustration to get it off, spit it on the ground and grab Daniel again within just a few seconds.

"Fuck's sake, Jack."

"Complaining?" Jack grinned. "Have to let go again in a minute. My dick is so fucking hard it weighs a ton. Need to aim it in you." He rubbed his face amid the feathers and blew on them.

"Lube?" Daniel begged, all the while, pushing his hips back.

"Precum." Jack wiped the leaking fluid that was bubbling from Daniel and managed to smear some where it needed to be, mixing with the clear fluid he was pumping out. "Damn, I'm ready. You better be."

"Am."

"Feather-boy." The tip was on target, the tension pulling at the sides of his glans, causing the slit to open and even more precum to bubble forth. Jack got half his head in before sliding his hand back to Daniel's right hip and around to his cock. He spared a moment to nip at Daniel's right wing-joint and then had to straighten up in preparation of driving himself inside. The sight before him was of bare skin and snowy-white feathers.

He still had his left boot planted between Daniel's spread feet, his right a foot away from their joined bodies, provided balance. His left arm was still between Daniel's wings and gripping him in place. Daniel's right wing was being pushed high, between Jack's head and his left arm and Daniel was bent to his left. It probably looked pretty awkward and Jack was thankful he'd found this secluded spot. Nothing was going to stop him from fucking Daniel right now, even the appearance of an audience.

With pure pre-cum slicking his way, Jack pushed slowly into Daniel. "Fuck, that's good," he whispered harshly.

Daniel was wordless. Jack tried to reach the erogenous zone under his wing but could only nip with his lips at the very top. That caused Daniel to find a few words! Appreciative and nasty, they urged Jack on. The head of his cock was in the archaeologist now and Jack held steady, enjoying the pressure around the flared head, his circumcision scar, before easing himself in farther. A third of the shaft. Half of it. Balls' deep.

"Oh fuck, Danny, love you, love you," he sighed out the endearment.

"Too," Daniel echoed. He pushed himself into Jack's hand and then back onto Jack's cock.

Jack allowed Daniel's movements to control their pacing, moving him in and then halfway out for several ecstatic moments. It couldn’t' have been minutes. He was too on edge to last minutes. In his right hand, Daniel's cock pulsed, beat after beat and Jack gritted his teeth, determined to resist the magnitude of sensation as Daniel's hole pulsed in counter beat. Daniel's orgasms always dragged him over the edge, no matter how hard he resisted. He took over the rhythm, driving himself in and in Daniel, pushing his own orgasm through and out the front of his body. Daniel was whimpering in his arms as Jack pushed in and released himself, White fluid flooding into Daniel, white as the feathers that adorned him.

They sank to knees, pants a cumbersome hindrance to graceful movement. Jack held on and Daniel's hands gripped his forearm that was banded across his chest. Jack was breathless, the one who was wordless now.

"Love you," Daniel whispered.

Jack pressed his lips to Daniel's neck. The wings were retracting. Jack could feel the velvety feathers slide across his skin as they went. "Wings going," he managed.

"Yeah. Satisfying. Actually feels good when they go back in. I didn't realize that before. No condom."

"Mess. Yeah, if I'd had one, no mess and I know you hate that when we're not at home. I'm not going to carry a condom through the gate. Not going to ever have that fall out of a back-pack."

"Should. Mess, like you said, and I'm always the one who has to deal with it. I have to find another stream."

The did find a stream. Jack rinsed thoroughly with the running water, and then back on shore, pulled his glans open and rinsed with pure bottled water from the canteen on his belt. He noted the residual white come and was surprised by it. "Thought I shot in you so hard there was nothing left in me."

"What?" Daniel turned from bathing himself and looked at Jack, standing on the water's bank dribbling the canteen over his groin.

"A little come still…coming out is all. Just a drop."

Daniel waded over to stand below Jack and licked his lips enticingly. "Need me to suck it out?"

"God," he swore sweetly. Gazing down at Daniel's sparkling eyes, his flushed, parted lips, he felt a small resurgence of blood to his groin. "Nothing left," he said with obvious and heart-felt regret. "And too sensitive."

"Me too. Back is sensitive. Still," he added with a grin. "When we get back to Earth?"

"And a bed. And a bedroom. With a locking door."

Jack played the image over and over in his mind on the trek to the gate. The two of them, joined bodies molded together, the white feathers around them. It was sexually sweet and he longed to do it again. But off the base and on Earth? With Daniel winged? Risky.

There was another image that played in his mind too, a counter-beat to the one that was full of physical sensations. It was the moment he sat up and saw Daniel on the canyon rim. He was wearing the green boxers he'd slept in and absolutely nothing else except feathers. The breaking dawn light illuminated his face in a golden hue. His bare legs were apart, his stance tall and strong as he faced the morning breeze and the slope of valley before him. His bare chest heaved with deep breaths. Daniel's arms were high and spread, palms to the sun, fingers spread, each muscle delineated by light and shadow. From his bare back, the wings were gloriously wide, soaking in every ray of the dawning sun that they could, each feather defined sharply in Jack's mind. Daniel had looked something other than angelic and yet as untouchable as an angel. He'd looked as if he were already in flight, and probably was in his mind. He looked as if he were immersing himself in the world, the air, the sunlight, in being winged. Free and almost utterly naked, he and the moment in time had been breathtaking, and it had taken tremendous effort for Jack to push himself to his feet and chase up that incline. But that image would be forever in his mind, Daniel, winged, on the brink of flight.

~~

Janet joined the two men in the quiet infirmary and slapped an open folder between them on the bed again. "Well, there's nothing wrong with you, Daniel."

"I know. I've got it figured out, Janet. The filaments, optical filaments that Sam had a good opportunity to observe, come out of me and they weave together to form wings and feathers. It's as simple as that. The outline is more Zoroastrian—"

"You know every time you say that, the Zoro Astrodog thing, you sound so disappointed they're not Egyptian."

Daniel spared Jack a scathing look before continuing. "And they retract."

"It's the retract part I'm not clear on. What we see in these test results is a presence of silicon in your body. It's in the spaces between bone. It can expand by adding spaces between the silicone molecules, and contract by eliminating those spaces. There's not a lot of it in you, however the size of the feathers, the wings is only achieved because they form octagonal hollow structures."

"Sounds like you got it all figured out, Doc. What's the problem?"

"Well, like I said, Colonel, it's the retracting action that has me confused. We've surmised that the warmth of a sun, any artificial light, even just feeling energized can cause the wings to erupt."

"Erupt?" Jack protested. "Can you use a different word?"

"And Doctor Jackson clearly knows they're going to appear because he has an itching sensation followed by a need to stretch. But the triggering event for retraction?"

"Well," Jack began but then shrugged and turned to Daniel. He looked extremely uncomfortable.

"The opposite, I might hypothesize. The first time, I was tired. Opposite of feeling invigorated."

"And that night when you and the Colonel camped away from Sam and Teal'c? Was it the dark that caused the wings to contract?"

"Um." Daniel adjusted his glasses and rolled his eyes toward Jack.

She didn't stop pressuring them for answers. "And the next day at dawn. Sam said the wings came back with the sun, but only went away after you and the Colonel went off by yourselves."

"Into some dark tree-covered forest," Jack supplied with a toothy grin. "Yeah. It was dark."

"And the wings stayed gone through the walk to the gate."

"He had his shirt on after we got out of the water."

"Water?" Janet tapped the open folder. "Is there something you two are not telling me?"

Jack pursed his lips and rolled his eyes toward Daniel, the same way the archaeologist had done to him earlier. "Well, actually—"

"Jack!"

"Actually, Doc…" Jack cleared his throat. He could no longer meet Daniel's eyes. He looked up at Janet. "My back kind of itches."

~~

Three weeks of being stuck on base. Three weeks of tests and very invasive talks with the doc and Jack was going whacko! He was in Daniel's office, rocked back on a stool, feet up on another one, throwing a tennis ball at the wall. Daniel's occasional glare or vile muttering didn't deter Jack.

He and Daniel were sleeping together in a large isolation room, no cameras watching them at night. Well, occupying the same suite, is how it was for those outside the door at night.

Janet had overseen experiments with a sunlamp. Jack smiled to himself when he thought about Daniel's expression the first time he'd seen Jack's rather impressive wing span reach over thirty feet. Though, to be fair, Daniel could arch his overhead, changing them from the flat silhouette of the Zoroastrian symbol to the Egyptian hawk-shape, and stroke down fast enough that with only two beats he could get airborne up to the confining room's ceiling. He'd bored Jack silly with illustrations of Horus, sometimes as a hawk, and in other statues and temple carvings as a falcon. The archaeologist had a whole power point presentation of Horus carvings from Medinet Habu on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor. Then there was a book Daniel'd managed to get him to leaf through, with old black and white photos of Horus standing beside Seti the first. It was all pretty boring, but Jack knew, pretty important to Daniel. Hmm. Daniel and the word pretty went together pretty damned well. Jack grinned and glanced at the archaeologist. No, he wouldn't bother to tell him about that pretty observation.

His feathers, white as the purest snow, were beyond pretty. Jack lost the ball for a moment and scrambled to retrieve it. They were soft, pliable, light, thin, and Daniel would curl his wings around the two of them when they were naked. Standing in that locked room, naked, bodies pressed together from head to toe, Daniel could brush the feathers along Jack's head, touching his upturned face. Feather-light, an awakening of every inch of his bare skin brought Jack to a moment of stillness, of gratitude for the man in his arms. And he'd kiss Daniel in those moments, kiss him so deep and with such concentration that Jack's wings would fold down if he let them, retract if he let them. How much he loved Daniel! The image of them joined, surrounded by the white wings flooded his mind.

But thoughts of Janet intruded and he lost his grin. They'd never share that image or that method of retracting the wings with the doc. During her many tests in the preceding three weeks the doctor observed that exhaustion slowly retracted the wings. Daniel could fold his back along his body if he meditated and achieved at least two minutes of a slow heart rate. Three minutes and they would be completely retracted.

Jack was progressing in his control of the white appendages in her presence, rolling them down, bringing them up. That was enough for now. He didn't really care if he could achieve what Daniel had and he really didn't give a fuck if they looked Zoro-style or Egyptian-style. Janet didn't care about the shape. But she was so freakin' invasive about everything else! Jack threw the ball harder. The thwack of felt-covered rubber hitting concrete was satisfying.

She would remain in the dark about their private testing! The wings would retract within seconds of sexual release. His grin was back. Daniel was trying to help Jack achieve that level of calmness through meditation so they could then demonstrate it to Janet. They had every intention of returning to duty, wings or no wings, and the ability to retract them at a moment's notice would probably be a stipulation of their future travels through the gate.

And through all the testing, all the poking and prodding and keeping of secrets, the most satisfying thing for Daniel was that he could arch his wings, hawk-like. Egyptian hawk-like. Jack found Daniel's happiness at that feat utterly baffling.

But all that progress mattered little today. Jack was Jack, and he was…going whacko! 

He hit the wall just above a shelf of clay artefacts and the ball bounced on the floor before returning to him.

"You've been doing that all morning!"

"Morning is subjective underground, you know." Jack gave him a saucy grin.

Daniel threw a pencil down on his desk and gave up on his glares and curses. "Couldn't you go play with Teal'c in the gym?"

"Oh no, feather-boy. No, I could not. Teal'c," he said, shaking a finger in the air, "Teal'c, just like Carter, has been given a clean bill of health. He's off with another team romping across the galaxy while I'm stuck here so 'ole Doc Fraser can come jab me with a needle any time she wants." With his fist, he jabbed an imaginary needle toward his butt.

"Well, we knew he'd be cleared," Daniel retorted. "And Sam."

"And just why? Why did we know this?" Jack challenged loudly.

Daniel looked first to be sure his door was closed. The camera overhead did not have sound capabilities. Still, he was obviously reluctant to speak frankly. He leaned forward and tilted his head down. "You know why."

"All because, like you said," Jack paused to shake his finger again, "because I don't carry condoms on off-world missions! An STD. Daniel, you gave me an STD!"

Daniel scooped up a heavy tome and threw it at him.

A rap at the door startled them both. Janet, in white lab coat and black heels, strode in and slapped a folder on Daniel's cluttered desk. She looked at the book on the floor and raised an eyebrow.

"Doc. You got any answers for us?"

"Close the door, Colonel." She waited until he was back, standing very close to Daniel's side.

Jack touched Daniel's shoulder and frowned. "Sorry."

Daniel looked down at Janet's folder, then at the tome on the floor and after a moment, murmured the same word to the man.

"So, I'm confident there's something the two of you are not telling me. Ah!" she held a palm up toward Jack. "I'm not asking any further questions. My report shows that, through an inadvertent exchange of bodily fluids, and here I've managed to come up with a plausible cut to Doctor Jackson's skin and you getting his blood in an equally plausible cut while carrying him, bodily fluids were exchanged in such a manner as to transmit some of the filament into your bloodstream, Colonel."

Jack's eyebrows rose and he exchanged surprised and hopeful looks with Daniel. Daniel stared blankly back at him. At times, Daniel's lack of optimism irritated him. This was one of those times.

"And I've recreated this in laboratory conditions, but only once. The sample I extracted from you, Daniel, right after the Colonel reported his first symptom. That was, by our closest calculations, thirty days after you were exposed. But now, the age of the fibers in you prevent a viable exchange. The ones in the Colonel never had the ability to form in any other organic media. In other words, gentlemen, there was a time limit to the viability of exchange."

"The Zoroastrians kept saying I needed to stay there so they could see the culmination of the spark. We interrupted the process, which may have caused a delay in this time limit. Otherwise, anyone on their planet, once struck by the light could then pass this on to another. The whole planet would be over-run with winged people even though only their planet's royal family was reported to have the spark. Sam said she got the impression that they expected it to take only one day, and the subject was required to stay in the temple for that day."

Janet nodded. "Sam and I had come to the same conclusion about the interruption of the process. So, basically, neither of you can pass this on to anyone else. You're safe to start gate travel again."

"Woo hoo!" Jack punched the air. "I'm outta here!"

"Hold on, Colonel!"

Jack moved back to Daniel's side and watched him adjust his glasses. From the archaeologist's expression, he knew they both dreaded her next words. She wore a stern frown and he knew that meant she wasn't through with them yet.

"The two of you need to come clean with me. I said you were safe to return to your duties, safe to others around you. I didn't say I had cleared you yet. I want the truth. How did you get this from Daniel, and how are you managing to retract the wings? I know there have been times you've done so when not in my presence or during our tests, and done so rapidly."

"Um." Daniel started, even though her initial question was directed at Jack. The colonel was stubbornly pressing his lips together. "Well, Jack and I did exchange bodily fluids. Probably…actually not through a cut. But certainly not in a manner that was likely to happen with any others on our team. Or any other team, for that matter."

"Yeah. Not gonna happen, that manner," Jack said, pointing a thumb at Daniel. "Like he said, that manner, not gonna happen with anybody else."

"What's done is done," she said as she reached into the pocket of her lab coat. She slapped a condom packet on his desk. "This would have been a useful bit of field equipment, if I'm not mistaken. Too late now. Too late for that mission but not too late for future missions. Am I making myself clear?"

Daniel eyed the square of plastic, the ring contents easy to identify. His cheeks bright red, he looked to Jack.

Jack smiled and suavely swiped the shocking item off the desk. He tucked it in his shirt pocket and beamed at her. "Thanks, Doc! That all?"

"My second question, if you would, please? In case I ever have to tend to one of you when you're in a winged state?"

"Uh." Jack's suaveness was gone.

"Oh, God," Daniel whispered and ducked his head. "No. I mean, can we just hope that never happens?"

"No," Janet echoed, shaking her head firmly. "I want answers, boys."

"Same way?" Jack tried, his face scrunched up. Hoping to end her line of questioning, he patted the pocketed condom.

Janet blinked at him and after a moment, blanched, her hand going over her mouth. "You mean…Seriously? You two, to make the wings retract you have…"

"Don't say it," Daniel pleaded. He ducked is head again and then eyed Jack before turning back to the doctor. "I think it's the physical release, the relaxation."

"Post coital bliss?" Jack tried. He was really shocked at the glare with which Daniel pierced him.

"The release of oxytocin, prolactin. Could be the endorphins," Janet said thoughtfully.

"They sag after I do something strenuous and get tired. Could be the endorphins," Daniel joined in her considerations. "Could be. I could try an injection of each hormone though, one at a time to see what happens."

"I'm not gonna go stabbing myself with an endorphin needle instead of getting off," Jack protested. He took a step back when Daniel hefted another book from the desk, though he didn't hurl it at the man. Janet's hand was back over her mouth and he highly suspected that it hid a wicked grin.

"You can't inject endorphins, Jack. They don’t cross the blood-brain barrier." Daniel turned to the doctor. "We'll start testing with oxytocin first, right Janet? But you'll clear us for return to duty?"

"I will. I'm going to add a note about endorphins being responsible. If I need to correct it later, I will. For now, this will satisfy the general. Just, neither of you return from a mission, injured and fledged, please?"

"Fledged?"

"Feathered," Daniel told him.

She turned to the Colonel. "You'll stop by my office before missions for discreet resupply? That one is pre-lubricated—"

Daniel perked up. "Lubed?" His eyebrows were high and he was reaching a hand toward Jack's shirt pocket.

Jack cut him a glare that had him snatching his hand back, slumping back on his stool and blinking rapidly.

Janet lost her earlier struggle to hide a grin and in fact, burst out laughing. Daniel shrugged and Jack shook his head, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.

After she left, Jack leaned over Daniel's desk, back to the camera and whispered. "You heard her. Doctor's orders. I need to fuck you before we come home from missions from now on."

Daniel glared up at him but then sighed and grinned. "I think she did."

End


End file.
